ITHACA, N.Y. — The No. 22-ranked Cornell men's soccer program, coming off a 2-1 upset victory over No. 7 Syracuse on Tuesday, plays the middle game of its three-game road swing on Saturday afternoon against Brown at Stevenson-Pincince Field in Providence, R.I.

Game Information

SITE: Stevenson-Pincince Field – Providence, R.I. (artificial surface)
TIME: Saturday, Oct. 8 – 4 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell (8-1-0, 1-0-0 Ivy), Brown (5-2-1, 0-0-1 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Brown leads, 39-23-5
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: BrownBears.com

Last Time Out

• A Syracuse own goal in the first half and a second-half goal on a penalty by junior forward Matthew Goncalves aided newly-ranked Cornell to a 2-1 upset victory over Syracuse at a brisk SU Soccer Stadium on Tuesday evening.
 
• Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg made four of his season-high five saves over the contest's final 17 minutes to ensure his eighth victory of the season.

Crunching the Numbers

• As Cornell boarded the bus for its one-hour trip north to Syracuse, the United Soccer Coaches poll was released, which featured Cornell in the top 25 for the first time this season.
 
• The No. 22 ranking marks the second consecutive season, and third time over the Big Red's last four years of competition that they have achieved a top-25 ranking.
 
• Cornell is the lone Ivy League program currently ranked in the top 25, while Penn and Yale are currently receiving votes.

Players of the Week

• Senior midfielder Brandon Morales and freshman midfielder Ben Goulding were honored by the Ivy League on Monday for their efforts last weekend against Harvard.
 
• Morales was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after factoring in all three of Cornell's goals in the Big Red's 3-2 win over the Crismon at Berman Field. The Pharr, Texas, native scored one goal and assisted on the other two, which included Goulding's first collegiate goal, which proved to be the game-winning goal.
 
• It is the first time Cornell has swept the Ivy League's weekly awards since Oct. 11, 2021, when Tyler Bagley won Player of the Week and Wilson Eisner was named Rookie of the Week.

Road Warriors

• With Tuesday's victory over No. 7 Syracuse, Cornell improved to 24-9-1 on the road since the beginning of the 2018 season, good for a .721 win percentage.
 
• Cornell is one of four Division I schools to post a win percentage north of .700 on the road over the last four-plus seasons. Only Missouri State (.828), Washington (.743), and Saint Mary's (.727) have higher percentages.
 
• The Big Red is one of 13 programs to be undefeated on the road this season. Cornell's six road victories in 2022 are the most by any Division I program this season. Entering Wednesday's contests, Cleveland State (5-0-1), No. 10 Denver (5-1-1), Gardner-Webb (5-1-2), No. 18 Lipscomb (5-1-1), and No. 15 Vermont (5-0-0) were the other schools with five road wins in 2022.
 
• Dating back to last year, Cornell has won its last seven road matches, which is tied with Vermont for the longest active Division I streak.

One of the Best

• Cornell's 8-1-0 record has the Big Red tied with Western Michigan (8-1-0) and No. 3 Kentucky (7-0-2) for the nation's fifth-highest win percentage following Tuesday's matches.
 
• Only top-ranked Washington (9-0-1 — .950), No. 16 Dayton (8-0-1 — .944), No. 4 Wake Forest (10-1-0 — .909) and No. 2 Duke (8-0-2 — .900) are currently ranked higher than the Big Red.
 
• The Big Red enter Saturday's match on a five-game win streak, which is tied with No. 1 Washington, fellow Ivy League foe, Penn, and St. Francis (N.Y.) for the fourth-longest active win streak in Division I soccer. Prior to Wednesday's matches, only Western Michigan (8 games), No. 15 Vermont and LIU (7 games) had longer streaks.

Starting Strong

• Cornell is off to its best nine-game start since the 2012 season when the Big Red opened the year with 12 consecutive wins before concluding the year with a 15-1 regular season record before falling to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
 
• The eight wins over the Big Red's first nine games is just the third time in program history that Cornell has posted eight wins over its first nine matches (1975 and 2012). Back in 1975, the squad also had an 8-1 record in its first nine games before concluding with a 12-4 record.

Having an Eye for the Goal

• The Big Red has scored 22 goals so far this year marking the program's 10th overall time since 1946, and the third time over the previous 46 years, that Cornell has logged at least 22 goals over its first nine matches. It is the second consecutive year that Cornell has 22-plus goals in its first nine games.
 
• Over Cornell's first nine matches in 2022, the Big Red has yet to be shut out. It marks the 10th overall time since 1946, and the second consecutive year, that a Big Red squad has scored at least once over its first nine matches (1948, 1958, 1965, 1971, 1976, 1993, 2011, 2012, 2021, 2022). The 1948 and 1958 squads scored goals in all nine of its games played that year.
 
• Cornell has scored a goal in each of its last 14 games (last five in 2021, first nine in 2022) and in 42 of its last 44 games, dating back to 2019.
 
• During John Smith's tenure at Cornell, which began in 2016, the Big Red has scored in 75 of the 93 matches played (80.6 percent). The percentage ranks as the fourth-highest by a Cornell head coach and the highest since Dan Wood, the coach in which Smith's position is currently endowed for, from 1971-75.

Friedberg's Strong Start

• Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Friedberg has shined for the Big Red between the pipes this season, as he established the freshman record for wins in a season on Tuesday at No. 7 Syracuse. He bested the record previously set by Stephen Bott in 1983 and Quinn O'Sullivan in 1992.
 
• Friedberg's clean sheet on Sept. 24 against Marist marked the fourth time he has been a part of a Cornell clean sheet in 2022. He has the third-most shutouts by a Cornell freshman keeper, trailing Bott (7 in 1983) and O'Sullivan (4.5 in 1992).
 
• Through games completed on Oct. 4, Friedberg's 0.79 goals-against average was second in the Ivy League, trailing Penn's Nick Christoffersen (0.754). Freidberg's mark ranks 36th nationally.
 
• Friedberg, through games completed on Oct. 4, had the seventh-lowest goals-against average for a first-year Division I goalkeeper.

Strong Ivy League Starts

• Cornell is seeking its second consecutive 2-0 start to Ivy League play on Saturday against Brown. It would mark the first time Cornell opened conference play with two consecutive wins in back-to-back seasons since 2011 and 2012.
 
• Last year, the Big Red won its first Ivy League contest over Penn, 3-0, on Oct. 2 at Rhodes Field in Philadelphia before defeating Harvard at home, 5-4, on Oct. 9.

Scouting the Bears

• Brown enters Saturday's contest with a 5-2-1 overall record and an 0-0-1 mark in Ivy League play. The Bears played to a scoreless draw with Columbia in its Ivy League opener last Saturday.
 
• Currently on a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1), Brown is coming off a 1-0 home victory over Northeastern on Tuesday.
 
• Brown currently has a top-20 ranking in save percentage (.800) and shutout percentage (.500), as the Bears have four clean sheets on the season.
 
• Jamin Gogo Peters leads Brown's offense with seven points (three goals, one assist). Kojo Dadzie is the other Bears player to score multiple goals (two goals).
 
• Henrik Weiper has started six of Brown's eight games this season, posting a 4-1-1 record and a .806 save percentage. Weiper and Connor Smith each have a 1.00 goals-against average on the season.

Series vs. Brown

• Saturday will be the 68th all-time meeting between the Big Red and Bears. Brown has the advantage in the series, 39-23-5, despite Cornell entering the match on a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1). Cornell has outscored Brown during its unbeaten streak by six goals, 8-2.
 
• It will be Cornell's first road match against Brown since Oct. 20, 2018, when the Big Red, who were ranked No. 25, prevailed 2-1 on the power of goals from John Searce and Charles Touche.

Looking Ahead

• Cornell concludes its three-game road trip on Tuesday when the Big Red take on its Central New York rival, Colgate, at Beyer-Small '76 Field in Hamilton. First touch is slated for 4 p.m., with game action broadcast on ESPN+.